Month: January 2021

A Polish law limiting abortion to cases of rape, incest and when the mother's health or life is at risk was expected to go into effect Wednesday following an October court decision deeming abortions due to fetal defects illegal. The court's decision set off protests across the mostly Roman Catholic country. More protests were expected as the law goes into effect. "See you in front of the Constitutional Tribunal today at 6:30 p.m.," the Women's Strike protest group, which organized many of the October protests, said on Facebook, according to Bloomberg News. FILE - Police secure the road as demonstrators try to block traffic during a pro-choice protest in the center of Warsaw, Nov. 28, 2020.Opponents of the ruling allege the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) Party, which took power in 2015, influenced the…

Two NASA astronauts conducted a spacewalk Wednesday outside the International Space Station (ISS) to complete an antenna assembly and communications terminal.  Flight Engineers Astronaut Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover are conducting the space walks, which will complete upgrades to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Columbus Module, among other tasks.     A posting to the ISS Twitter account explains the antenna rigging for the “Bartolomeo” science payloads platform outside the Columbus module and the communications links will allow high-bandwidth communication with European ground stations, as well as further research in Earth observation, robotics, material science and astrophysics.   The spacewalk was scheduled to last about six hours.   Wednesday’s spacewalk is the first in Glover’s career and the third for Hopkins. The two are scheduled to conduct another spacewalk next…

Zimbabwe’s government held burials Wednesday for two Cabinet ministers and a former prison official who died from COVID-19.   The Cabinet now has lost four ministers to the coronavirus — three of them this month — and more than 1,000 people overall.  Public health experts blame Zimbabwe's collapsed healthcare system.  At the burial of the transport and foreign affairs ministers, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga urged Zimbabweans to observe social distancing, wear face masks and wash their hands to fight the coronavirus.      “COVID-19 has taught us an important lesson; that we are all mortals," he said. "The fight against this pandemic does not allow us to choose who to walk with, work with, or run with. It does not discriminate, between the powerful and the weak, the privileged and the…

Authorities in Moscow have lifted some coronavirus restrictions, including the overnight closure of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs, citing the improving health situation. Starting on Wednesday, businesses no longer are required to have at least 30 percent of employees working remotely, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his blog, saying the “situation with the spread of the coronavirus infection continues to improve” in the city. “In these conditions it is our duty to create conditions for the fastest possible economic recovery,” Sobyanin said. A ban on mass rallies and the requirement for people to wear masks in shops and on public transport remain in place. He said measures requiring distance learning for university students would be reviewed on February 6. Russia, which has the world's fourth-highest number of COVID-19 cases, has opted…

As countries deal with coronavirus vaccine access, supply and distribution difficulties, the world surpassed 100 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with more than 2.1 million deaths. It took about 11 months for worldwide infections to reach 50 million, and three more months to hit 100 million. Five nations have suffered more than 100,000 deaths, including Britain, which crossed that threshold on Tuesday. Public health officials have urged people to take steps such as wearing masks, keeping distance from others, and avoiding large gatherings in order to stop the spread of the virus.  Governments have turned to various levels of lockdowns amid spikes in infections. Peru announced late Tuesday a lockdown of its capital and nine other regions as hospitals struggled to deal with a big increase in cases. FILE - A medical worker takes notes…

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is calling on wealthy countries to, in his words, stop hoarding coronavirus vaccines so that poorer countries can have access to them. Ramaphosa spoke at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum Tuesday, as VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.  ...

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to sign a series of actions Wednesday to combat climate change. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday that Biden believes climate change is one of the top crises to address during his time in office. Biden has appointed former Secretary of State John Kerry to serve as his climate envoy.   Kerry was the nation’s top diplomat during the crafting of the Paris climate agreement, a pact Biden recommitted the United States to on his first day in office in a reversal of former President Donald Trump’s policy. The steps Biden is expected to take include a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on U.S. lands and waters, and regulatory actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will also include directing officials to set aside more area for conservation and establishing a White House office to serve…

The World Health Organization director-general on Tuesday continued to press his case against what he calls "vaccine nationalism,” saying poor countries have had to “watch and wait,” while wealthy nations forge ahead with vaccination programs.In his closing remarks to the 10-day WHO executive board meeting in Geneva, agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “With every day that passes, the divide grows larger between the world's haves and have-nots."He said the world faces a "catastrophic moral failure" if it does not work for vaccine equity. He cited recent studies showing how such policies hurt the global economy by leaving some nations behind.“Vaccine nationalism could cost the global economy up to $9.2 trillion and almost half of that — $4.5 trillion — would be incurred in the wealthiest economies," Tedros said.The WHO-organized…

The northern white rhino is on the brink of extinction.  Poachers decimated the population, but now science has a chance to bring it back.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.Camera:  Reuters Produced by: Arash Arabasadi   ...

World Health Organization experts say more clinical evidence is needed to know whether the Moderna vaccine protects against COVID-19 variants.  The conclusion came as WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, known as SAGE, issued interim recommendations for use of the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19.     Health officials are concerned about the new strains of COVID-19, which recently were found in South Africa and Britain and have since migrated to other places. The appearance of these variants has triggered consternation and many questions regarding their potential impact on the efficacy of newly developed vaccines against the coronavirus.   U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna announced Monday its COVID-19 vaccine appeared to protect people against the emerging strains.  WHO Director of the Immunization Department, Vaccines and Biologicals, Kate O’Brien, says she…

Argentina is set to receive another batch of a Russian vaccine against COVID-19 on Tuesday, just days after Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner became the country's latest leader vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine.       The vice president was given the shot three days after President Alberto Fernández was given his first dose.   Argentina is one of the largest countries to begin vaccinating its citizens with Sputnik V vaccine, which its developers claim is more than 90 percent effective against COVID-19.   Argentina approved the use of Sputnik V for people 60 years of age and older last week, as it expands the vaccination program to a larger segment of the population.     Argentina is also awaiting the first batch of vaccine created AstraZeneca and Oxford University.…

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday wealthy countries should not hold onto excess stockpiles of COVID-19 vaccines, and that the world needs to work together to fight the pandemic. FILE - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment facilities in Johannesburg, April 24, 2020.Ramaphosa told a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum that those who have hoarded vaccines need to release them “so that other countries can have them.” "The rich countries of the world went out and acquired large doses of vaccines,” Ramaphosa said.  “Some countries even acquired up to four times what their population needs ... to the exclusion of other countries." The South African leader said the world is not safe if some countries are vaccinating their people, but others are not. Fighting emerging strainsU.S.…

Two NASA astronauts are set to embark on two spacewalks in a week’s time outside the International Space Station. The first of the two spacewalks will be Wednesday and will focus on completing the installation of the Bartolomeo science payloads platform outside the European Space Agency’s Columbus module, according to a NASA media advisory.  The tasks will include the replacement of a nickel-hydrogen battery with a lithium-ion one. The pair will also upgrade cameras with high-definition ones. And adding antenna and cable rigging for power and data connections, including a high-bandwidth link for European ground stations. The Bartolomeo platform, named for the younger brother of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, was delivered to the space station last March. NASA flight engineers Michael Hopkins, a veteran of two previous spacewalks, and Victor Glover will be outside the space station for about 6½ hours beginning at 7 a.m. EST.  The second spacewalk, on February 1, will wrap…

World leaders gathered virtually Monday for the Climate Adaption Summit, an online meeting hosted by the Netherlands with hopes of developing practical solutions and funding for dealing with climate change between now and 2030.The online program featured leaders from around the world, including China's Deputy Prime Minister Han Zheng, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders. Representing the United States was former Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been appointed by President Joe Biden to be Washington's new special climate envoy. Kerry told the group the Biden administration has made fighting climate change a top priority and said the U.S. is proud to be back as a leader on the issue.“We have a president now, thank God, who leads, tells the…

Malawi says it is recruiting hundreds of healthcare workers to address a shortage as the country deals with a surge in COVID-19 cases. Healthcare workers welcome the move but say the government needs to do more than just hire more nurses.Government statistics show that about 900 Malawian health workers are currently in quarantine after exposure to COVID-19. Ten of them have died.Dr. Charles Mwansambo is secretary for the Ministry of Health.Speaking during a televised presidential address on Sunday evening, he said to address the shortage, the government is attempting to recruit 1,380 new healthcare workers from various schools this week.“So there are 219 workers for central hospitals, 150 workers for CHAM [Christian Health Association of Malawi] facilities and 377 for district hospitals. And we are also recruiting 634 interns,” he…

Israel says it plans to shut down its international airport by the end of the week to keep out highly contagious coronavirus variants.   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, “We are closing the skies hermetically, except for really rare exceptions, to prevent the entry of virus mutations, and also to ensure that we progress quickly with our vaccination campaign.” The new measure is set to begin Tuesday and last until the end of the month, pending parliamentary approval.   Meanwhile, the White House said Sunday it is ready to restrict entry of non-U.S. citizens traveling to the U.S. from South Africa because of concerns about the highly contagious coronavirus variant that has emerged there.Vehicles line up at a self-swabbing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a Rite Aid drive-thru during the outbreak of…

The U.S. is increasing efforts to track the several coronavirus variants emerging as the virus continues to spread throughout the world, a health official said Sunday. The plan is to monitor "the impact of these variants on vaccines, as well as on our therapeutics," as the virus continues to mutate while it spreads, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We are now scaling up both our surveillance of these and our study of these," Walensky said during a Fox News Sunday interview. She said the CDC was collaborating with the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Pentagon, in tracking the coronavirus mutations. The news comes as the world is on the verge of reaching 100 million COVID-19 infections, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. More than 2 million people…

Honeybees in Bolivia’s mountains are in trouble. Their natural habitat is disappearing, being replaced by an environment they cannot call home. One couple in one of the country's forest regions is fighting to save them. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports. ...

The unrelenting increase in COVID-19 infections in Spain following the holiday season is again straining hospitals, threatening the mental health of doctors and nurses who have been at the forefront of the pandemic for nearly a year.In Barcelona’s Hospital del Mar, the critical care capacity has more than doubled and is nearly full, with 80% of ICU beds occupied by coronavirus patients.“There are young people of 20-something-years-old and older people of 80-years-old, all the age groups,” said Dr. Joan Ramon Masclans, who heads the ICU. “This is very difficult, and it is one patient after another.”Even though authorities allowed gatherings of up to 10 people for Christmas and New Year celebrations, Masclans chose not to join his family and spent the holidays at home with his partner.“We did it to…

The world is on the verge of reaching 100 million COVID-19 infections, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center statistics. More than 2 million people have died from the virus.The coronavirus continues to create an unyielding and staggering path of illness and death across the United States. Johns Hopkins reported early Sunday that the U.S. has nearly 25 million COVID infections, with more than 417,000 deaths. Both tolls are the world’s highest.India follows the U.S. caseload with 10.6 million infections and more than 153,000 deaths. Brazil has nearly 9 million cases and more than 216,000 deaths.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said COVID vaccines could bring the global pandemic under control, with vaccinations under way in more than 50 countries. However, all but two of those countries…

Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, will become the first mass vaccination site for the COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Orange County. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetyan.   ...

The local government in Hong Kong said Saturday that it had locked down one of the territory’s most heavily populated areas to complete mandatory COVID-19 testing of its entire population.Hong Kong’s Special Administrative Region government said the lockdown was imposed in parts of the Jordan District to test nearly 10,000 residents within 48 hours, paving the way for residents to go to their jobs on Monday morning.Authorities said 3,000 government workers had been deployed to the district, where officials said 162 cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed in the first 20 days of the new year.A man who sought to enter the closed area in Hong Kong's Jordan District is detained after attacking a police officer, Jan. 23, 2021. Thousands of Hong Kongers were locked down Saturday in a…

A surge in coronavirus cases in Zimbabwe has included the deaths of two Cabinet ministers in 48 hours. The government announced Friday night that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died of COVID-19. On Wednesday, the president's office said Sibusiso Busi Moyo, Zimbabwe’s minister of foreign affairs and international trade, had died of  complications related to COVID-19.Pallbearers wait for coffins to arrive at a state burial of government ministers who died of COVID-19, in Harare, Zimbabwe, Jan. 21, 2021.Zimbabweans have taken to social media to blame the deaths on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which takes senior officials abroad for treatment instead of rehabilitating the country's collapsed health care delivery system. Critics say Mnangagwa and his predecessor, the late Robert Mugabe, never bothered to upgrade hospitals or adequately pay health workers, who have recently…

The world is steadily inching up to 100 million COVID cases. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday there are more than 98 million global COVID infections and more than 2 million deaths.“For the moment, the virus still has its hand in the game, but we still have our two best players: vaccination and spring,” Yves Van Laethema, a Belgian health ministry spokesperson said about COVID in his country.Van Laethema said he is hoping spring’s warmer weather will help alleviate the recent uptick in Belgian hospital admissions.Belgium has nearly 690,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 20,000 people have died.Chinese authorities have partially locked down a section of a Hong Kong neighborhood. The Jordan district is one of Hong Kong’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Officials said Saturday they are testing…